Seaside town of Herne Bay reveals surreal claim to fame

Share via

Apart from providing relief to Jeeves as a holiday destination in P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster novels, the seaside resort of Herne Bay has modest claims to be a cultural crucible.

That will all change this week as eminent art historians recognise it as the cradle of surrealism.

The Kentish resort will celebrate this claim, which derives from the arrival of Marcel Duchamp in 1913, by parading the world’s largest urinal through the streets in tribute to Duchamp’s most famous work. The 15ft-long urinal is an homage to Duchamp’s Fountain, a loo on its side that marked the beginning of